If you’ve never competed in a time-speed-distance rally, your chance to do so among friends comes up on November 9, 2003, with the first running of Both Feet Out.   BFO will be a straightforward exploration of some of the great roads in northeastern Connecticut, starting and ending in Willington, exit 69 off I-84.   This article will talk a little about the art and science of TSD rallying, then a little about the philosophy behind BFO.

A TSD rally requires teams of participants (driver & navigator) to follow precise driving instructions over paved, public roads at specified (and legal) speeds.   Do it right and you will arrive at each of the checkpoints along the route at exactly the right time.   Do it wrong and you’ll be early or late, earning penalty points.   ( Do it really wrong and visit lovely Pennsylvania or Vermont . . . but we’ll get to that.)

            At the starting location   - - or in the mail if you pre-register - - you will receive a set of General Instructions.   The GI’s tell you how to read the Route Instructions, which you receive  20 or 30 minutes before your official start time.   Cars leave the starting point at one-minute intervals and proceed on a 10-mile (or so) odometer check, which allows everyone to compare their odometers with the rallymaster’s.   The resulting correction factor will allow you to adjust your speeds and timekeeping efforts to match the official rally mileage.   I’ll cover elementary timekeeping in a follow-up article.

            Your first objective is to stay on course.   Many wise first-timers ignore timekeeping altogether and just drive as closely as possible to the required speeds, so both driver and navigator can concentrate on the course.   Following the Route Instructions requires you to complete each Numbered Route Instruction (that’s right, “NRI”) fully before starting the next.   Turn left where the NRI says “L” and right where it says “R.”   Between NRI’s go straight as possible (yup, “SAP”) unless told to do otherwise.   If an NRI directs you onto a road by name or number using the word “onto ”   (L onto Main St.), then instead of going SAP you’ll follow Main St. wherever it leads you.   If Main St. is not marked at an intersection, go SAP.   That’s as complicated as the instructions will ever get in BFO.

            The NRI’s will periodically direct you to “CAS” a specific speed, meaning “ change your average speed to” or “ continue average speed.”    CAS 40, for instance, requires you to maintain an average speed of 40 mph until the next speed instruction.   If you know exactly how many miles, or hundredths of a mile, you travel at CAS 40, then you also know how long that portion of the rally should take.   Not all of the rally requires intense timekeeping effort:   along the course, you will encounter sections where you are assured that there are no checkpoints.   In these Free Zones, you have the choice of maintaining the CAS speed or running ahead and calculating what time you should leave the end of the Free Zone.   You may also encounter Transit Zones, which are Free Zones with an easy twist:   the rallymaster tells you how much time to take to get to the end of the Transit Zone.   Lunch, for instance, takes place inside a one-hour Transit Zone that is only a few miles long.

            At each clearly marked checkpoint, the checkpoint crew will note your arrival time.   Pull completely past the checkpoint to a safe location, park, and walk back to the checkpoint car (on the side away from the road, please) and get your scorecard marked.   A checkpoint slip will tell you the theoretical correct time for the leg just completed.   By comparing your actual leg time to the perfect leg time, you can adjust your speeds in the next leg to correct any errors.   Penalty points are assessed: 1 point for each 1/100 minute early or late.   Lowest score wins.   (More about hundredths of a minute next time.   For now, rest assured I’ll show you an easy way to keep time in hundredths using a plain vanilla analog watch with a sweep second hand.)   The checkpoint crew will also assign you a time to start the next leg, generally 3 to 4 minutes after your arrival.   At the end of the rally, the scoring crew will add up everyone’s scores and announce winners.

            Both Feet Out is designed to be fun and fast.   The rally will cover 80 to 90 miles on largely unpopulated roads, with a lunch break at a decent sit-down restaurant and a finish location at an even more decent place (prix fixe $20 + T&T).   Coffee (excellent coffee, actually), pastries, name-brand gas and other useful facilities will be available at the start location.   First car starts the rally at 10:01 a.m. and should finish by 4 p.m. or so.   With dinner and awards, you should be out the door by 7:30.

            Getting lost stinks.   BFO is designed to keep you on course, no matter what.  (So don’t worry about winding up in Pennsylvania or Vermont.)   There will be no teensy little signs or tricky course-following gimmicks.  Instructions will be interesting but easy to follow.   The contest is between the participants, not between the rallymaster and the rallyists.   There will be separately designated helper instructions for novices, and experts can always sneak a peak as well.   (Nothing stinks worse than thinking yourself an expert and being lost.   Trust me, I know.)

BFO will be fast.   It is a rally designed to test both drivers and navigators, with a little “ yeehah!” thrown in.   How can legal speeds in Connecticut be considered fast, you ask?   Come to BFO on November 9 and find out.

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